COMPANY NEWS

COMPANY NEWS; ENRON SALE OF UNIT TO SIERRA PACIFIC IS DOUBTED

Published: March 24, 2001

The Enron Corporation said yesterday that its $3.1 billion sale of the Portland General Electric Company to Sierra Pacific Resources might not be completed. ''There's probably a 5 percent probability that Sierra Pacific's purchase of Portland General will be consummated,'' the chief executive, Jeffrey Skilling, said on a conference call with investors. Enron said in January that Sierra Pacific might not be able to sell a Nevada power plant stake as needed to win regulatory approval for the Portland General transaction. Enron blamed a California law that barred public utilities from shedding generators until 2005 because of an electricity shortage.